The ousted Chief Justice Iftikhar Muhammad Chaudhry, Justice Rana Bhagwandas and Justice Khalil-ur-Rehman Ramday were not invited to take oath under the new PCO.

The surprise decision was of Justice Javed Iqbal who was approached by the authorities but he refused to become the new Chief Justice.

He was heading the 11-member larger bench of the Supreme Court, whose decision it is generally believed was pre-empted by Saturday’s imposition of emergency and the suspension of the 1973 Constitution.

All the four justices, who took oath under the PCO, were members of the 11-judge apex court bench.